Beverage refrigerator

ABSTRACT

A beverage refrigerator includes: a refrigerator body having a predetermined storage space surrounded by an evaporator; one or more beverage carriages, each of which is pushed into and drawn out of the storage space like a drawer, and on each of which beverages are stored; and as many doors as the beverage carriages, each of which has a first end hingedly assembled with a corresponding beverage carriage and a second end pivotable about the first end, so as to selectively open and close the storage space.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention

The present invention relates to a refrigerator, and more particularlyto a beverage refrigerator for storing cans or bottles containingbeverages or drinks.

2. Description of the Prior Art

As used herein, a beverage refrigerator refers to a small refrigeratorwhich is used in hotel rooms or offices, etc., in order to storebeverages.

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional beverage refrigerator.

As shown, a refrigerator body 10 has a storage space 20 for storingbeverages, which is defined in the refrigerator body 10. An evaporator30 is disposed at one side in the storage space 20. The storage space 20is directly cooled by the evaporator 30.

Shelves 40 are disposed in the storage space 20, to partition thestorage space 20 into several compartments, thereby improving theefficiency in use of the storage space 20.

A door 50 is rotatably assembled with one side of the refrigerator body10 by means of a door hinge 60. The door 50 selectively opens and closesthe storage space 20.

The refrigerator body 10 has a machine room 70 arranged at a rear lowerpart of the refrigerator body 10. The machine room 70 houses variouselements constituting a cooling cycle.

However, the conventional beverage refrigerator as described above hasthe following problems:

As described above, the storage space 20 is directly cooled by theevaporator 30. However, the evaporator 30 is disposed at one side in thestorage space 20. Therefore, the temperature of the beverages stored inthe storage space 20 may become different according to the distance fromthe evaporator 30 to them.

Further, a user must open the door 50 in order to put a beverage in orout of the storage space 20. At this time, the user must bend down inorder to put in or take out a beverage from the storage space 20.Especially, in order to put a beverage in or out of the lowestcompartment or a deep inside portion of the storage space 20, the usermust bend over and greatly lower his body.

Meanwhile, the conventional beverage refrigerator has the machine room70 arranged at a rear lower part of the refrigerator body 10. Usually,the refrigerator body 10 is installed with its back side locatedadjacent to a wall. Therefore, it is difficult to effectively dischargethe heat generated by the operation of the elements constituting thecooling cycle housed in the machine room 70.

Further, as described above, because the machine room 70 is located atthe rear lower part of the refrigerator body 10 and protrudes into thestorage space 20, the lower space or compartment has a smaller depth inthe direction from the front to the inside. Therefore, it may beimpossible to put a large beverage container or package (for example, abeverage pack containing multiple cans or bottles) in the lower part orcompartment of the storage space 20. Then, such a large beveragecontainer or package is stored in an upper part of the storage space 20,and individual cans or bottles are stored in the lower part orcompartment. However, it is usual that the user puts in or takes outindividual cans or bottles more frequently than an entire beverage pack.Therefore, the machine room 70 located at the rear lower part of theconventional beverage refrigerator may increase the users' difficulty orinconvenience in putting beverage in or out of the storage space 20.

Further, it is usual that the refrigerator body 10 is installed indoors,for example, in the kitchen or living room. However, the dimensions ofthe conventional beverage refrigerator are determined withoutconsideration of the dimensions of other furniture installed in the samespace. Therefore, the top surface of the refrigerator body 10 may behigher or lower than the height of other pieces of furniture, so that itmay be difficult to effectively use the top surface of the refrigeratorbody 10.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve theabove-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art, and an object ofthe present invention is to provide a beverage refrigerator, which canimprove the efficiency in cold storage of beverages.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a beveragerefrigerator, which enables a user to more easily put in or take out abeverage from the refrigerator.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a beveragerefrigerator, which has a structure capable of improving the heatdischarge efficiency of the elements housed in a machine room of therefrigerator.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a beveragerefrigerator, which has a structure for more efficient utilization ofthe storage space in the refrigerator.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a beveragerefrigerator, which can achieve more efficient utilization of the topsurface of the refrigerator.

In order to accomplish this object, there is provided a beveragerefrigerator comprising: a refrigerator body having a predeterminedstorage space surrounded by an evaporator; one or more beveragecarriages, each of which is pushed into and drawn out of the storagespace like a drawer, and on each of which beverages are stored; and asmany doors as the beverage carriages, each of which has a first endhingedly assembled with a corresponding beverage carriage and a secondend pivotable about the first end, so as to selectively open and closethe storage space.

The beverage refrigerator according to the present invention can improvethe efficiency in cold storage of beverages, enables a user to moreeasily put in or take out a beverage from refrigerator, improves theheat discharge efficiency of the elements housed in a machine room ofthe refrigerator, and can achieve more efficient utilization of the topsurface of the refrigerator.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the presentinvention will be more apparent from the following detailed descriptiontaken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a conventional beverage refrigerator;

FIG. 2 is a side sectional view of a beverage refrigerator according toa preferred embodiment of the present invention, which illustrates aninternal structure thereof; and

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of the beverage refrigerator shown inFIG. 2, for illustrating the operation thereof.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Hereinafter, a beverage refrigerator according to a preferred embodimentof the present invention will be described in detail with reference tothe accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 illustrates a beverage refrigerator according to a preferredembodiment of the present invention.

As shown, a refrigerator body 110 of the beverage refrigerator includesan outer case 112 and an inner case 114, which form inner and outerappearances, respectively. An adiabatic layer 116 is disposed betweenthe outer case 112 and the inner case 114.

The refrigerator body 110 may have various dimensions, which include aheight corresponding to the height of various pieces of furniture. Forexample, the refrigerator body 110 may be designed to have a height of65 or 75 cm, which are standards for typical household furniture, or aheight of 85 or 95 cm, which are standards for typical kitchenfurniture.

The refrigerator body 110 has a storage space 120 defined in therefrigerator body 110. The storage space 120 is arranged in order tostore beverages and is actually defined by the inner case 114. The upperpart of the storage space 120 has a smaller depth in the direction fromthe front to the backside than the lower part thereof, due to the spacefor a machine room 160.

An evaporator 130 for direct cooling of the storage space is disposed inthe refrigerator body 110. The evaporator 130 has a shape of a pipefixed to a backside of the inner case 114. The evaporator 130 surroundsthe upper and lower sides, both lateral sides, and the backside of thestorage space 120.

A plurality of beverage carriages 140 are disposed in the storage space120. Beverages are stored on each of the beverage carriages 140. Thebeverage carriages 140 are vertically spaced apart within the storagespace 120. The storage space 120 is actually partitioned into severalvertically arranged compartments by the beverage carriages 140.

Further, each of the beverage carriages 140 has a bottom surfacecorresponding to a horizontal cross-section of the storage space 120 inwhich it is located. That is to say, from among the beverage carriages140, the beverage carriage 140 disposed at the upper part of the storagespace 120 has a larger width between the front end and the rear end thanthat of the other beverage carriages 140 disposed at the lower part ofthe storage space 120.

A partition member 142 is detachably installed on a bottom surface ofeach of the beverage carriages 140. The partition member 142 extends ata right angle from the bottom surface of the beverage carriage 140 andholds the beverages stored in the beverage carriage 140. The interiorspace of the beverage carriage 140 is actually partitioned into multiplecompartments by the partition member 142.

According to the embodiment shown in the drawings, 142 has a structurewhich partitions the interior space of the beverage carriage 140 intomultiple compartments arranged in a shape of a lattice. However, thestructure of the partition member 142 is not limited to such alattice-like structure. For example, the partition member 142 may have astructure which can partition only a part of the interior space of thebeverage carriages 140.

The beverage carriage 140 has a drawer-like structure, so that thebeverage carriage 140 can be pushed into or drawn out of the storagespace 120. To this end, a plurality of guide rails 144 are disposed atboth sides of the storage space 120. The guide rails 144 are disposed atcorresponding positions on both sides of the storage space 120 andextend in the longitudinal direction between the front side and the rearside.

Further, a slider 146 is movably assembled with each pair of the guiderails 144. Each of the beverage carriages 140 is mounted on the slider146. The beverage carriage 140 may be either detachably assembled withthe slider 146 or fixed to the slider 146. For example, the beveragecarriage 140 may be fixedly placed on the upper surface of the slider146.

Further, a door 150 is assembled with a front end of each of the siders146. Each of the doors 150 selectively opens and closes the beveragecarriage 140. Each of the doors 150 is assembled with the front end ofthe slider 146 in such a manner that the door 150 is rotatable about arotation shaft 152 within a predetermined angle. Therefore, all or apart of the beverage carriage 140 may be opened or closed by the door150.

Specifically, when the storage space 120 is closed, the door 150 makes aright angle with respect to the slider 146. Then, from the state inwhich the door 150 closes the storage space 120, the door 150 rotatesabout the rotation shaft 152 in a clockwise direction in FIG. 2, so asto open the storage space 120. When the door 150 has been rotated 90°about the rotation shaft 152 in a clockwise direction in FIG. 2, thestorage space 120 is completely opened. In the state in which thestorage space 120 is completely opened by the door 150, the rear surfaceof the door 150 is aligned with the upper surface of the slider 146,that is, the two surfaces are located on the same plane, as shown inFIG. 3.

As noted from the enlarged view in the circle in FIG. 2, each of therotation shafts 152 is provided with a torsion spring 154. Both ends ofthe torsion spring 154 are supported by one side of the slider 146 andone side of the door 150. The torsion spring 154 provides an elasticforce to the door 150, which rotates the door 150 toward a position atwhich the door 150 closes the storage space 120. That is, the torsionspring 154 applies an elastic force to the door 150 in thecounterclockwise direction in FIG. 2. Therefore, from the state in whichall or a part of the storage space 120 is opened, when the externalforce applied to the door 150 is released, the door 150 is rotated aboutthe rotation shaft 152 in the counterclockwise direction in FIG. 2 bythe torsion spring 154.

In the illustrated embodiment, the door 150 provides an elastic force tothe door 150, in order to rotate the door 150 toward a position at whichthe door 150 closes the storage space 120. However, the presentinvention is not limited to such a construction. For example, a coilspring may be disposed between a portion of the backside of the door 150and a portion of the slider 146.

Further, each of the doors 150 has a grip 156 formed at an upper portionof the front surface of the door 150. The grip 156 is the portion whichis touched by a user when the user rotates the door 150 in order to openthe storage space 120. That is, when the user holds the grip 156 andpulls the door 150 toward the right side in FIG. 2, the door 150 isrotated about the rotation shaft 152 relative to the slider 146 in theclockwise direction in FIG. 2, so as to open the storage space 120.

Although not shown, when the storage space 120 is completely opened bythe door 150, that is, when the backside of the door 150 and the uppersurface of the slider 146 are located on the same plane, the door 150 isheld at that position by an engagement between a locking protuberanceand a locking groove formed at corresponding portions of the slider 146and the door 150. The engagement between the locking protuberance andthe locking groove prevents the door 150 from being unintentionallyrotated by the elastic force of the torsion spring 154 to close thestorage space 120 from the state in which the door 150 completely opensthe storage space 120. That is, when the locking protuberance has beenengaged with the locking groove, the door 150 is prevented fromunintentionally rotating about the rotation shaft 152. However, byreleasing the engagement between the locking protuberance and thelocking groove, it is possible to rotate the door 150 about the rotationshaft 152.

The refrigerator body 110 has the machine room 160 formed at an upperrear part of the refrigerator body 110. The machine room 160 housesvarious elements constituting a cooling cycle, which include acompressor 162 and a condenser 164. Although not shown, the machine room160 may have one or more ventilation ports in order to discharge theheat generated by the elements housed in the machine room 160.

Hereinafter, an operation of a beverage refrigerator according to apreferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in moredetail with reference to the attached drawings.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a beverage refrigerator according toa preferred embodiment of the present invention, for illustrating theoperation thereof.

As shown, in order to put a beverage in or out of the storage space 120,a user holds the grip 156 of the door 150 and pulls the door 150 towardthe right side in FIG. 3. Then, the door 150 rotates about the rotationshaft 152 against the elastic force of the rotation shaft 152 in theclockwise direction in FIG. 3, so that the storage space 120 starts tobe opened.

Simultaneously, the slider 146, with which the door 150 is rotatablyassembled, slides along the guide rail 144 toward the right side of FIG.3. Then, the beverage carriage 140 loaded on the slider 146 also movesrightward, so that the beverage carriage 140 starts to be drawn out ofthe storage space 120. When the beverage carriage 140 has been drawn outto a necessary degree, the user can load or unload a beverage into orfrom the beverage carriage 140.

When the loading or unloading of the beverage is completed, the forcepulling the door 150 toward the right side is released and the door 150is pushed leftward in FIG. 3. Then, the door 150 is rotated about therotation shaft 152 in the counterclockwise in FIG. 3 by the elasticforce of the torsion spring 154 and the slider 146 slides leftward alongthe guide rail 144 together with the door 150. When the beveragecarriage 140 loaded on the slider 146 has been completely inserted andthe door 150 has been completely rotated to stand at a right angle withrespect to the slider 146, the door 150 closes the storage space 120.

Meanwhile, it is sometimes necessary to completely open the storagespace 120 and completely draw out the beverage carriage 140 according tothe size and location of the beverage stored in the beverage carriage140. In this case, the user keeps pulling the door 150 rightward in FIG.3. Then, the door 150 keeps rotating about the rotation shaft 152 in theclockwise direction in FIG. 3 against the elastic force of the torsionspring 154, until it is then completely opened. Then, the lockingprotuberance is inserted in and engaged with the locking groove, so asto maintain the slider 146 and the door 150 in line with each other.Therefore, the door 150 is maintained at the position at which the door150 completely opens the storage space 120. In this state, the user canmore easily load or unload a beverage on or from the beverage carriage140.

When the loading or unloading of the beverage has been completed, thedoor 150 is slightly rotated about the rotation shaft 152 in thecounterclockwise direction in the drawing by a force with apredetermined magnitude. Then, the locking protuberance is disengagedfrom the locking groove, and the door 150 is rotated about the rotationshaft 152 in the counterclockwise in FIG. 3 by the elastic force of thetorsion spring 154. Simultaneously or after the door 150 is rotatedcounterclockwise about the rotation shaft 152, the door 150 is pushedleftward in FIG. 3. Then, the slider 146 slides leftward along the guiderail 144 together with the door 150. When the beverage carriage 140loaded on the slider 146 has been completely inserted and the door 150has been completely rotated to stand at a right angle with respect tothe slider 146, the door 150 closes the storage space 120.

In the meantime, refrigerant compressed by the compressor 162 istransferred to the evaporator 130 after passing through the condenser164, in order to cool the storage space 120. The refrigerant expandswhile passing through the evaporator 130, so as to cool the storagespace 120. In this process, the storage space 120 can be uniformlycooled, because the evaporator 130 disposed behind the inner case 114surrounds the upper and lower sides, both lateral sides, and thebackside of the storage space 120.

Further, after cooling the storage space 120 while passing through theevaporator 130, the refrigerant is transferred to the compressor 162 andthe condenser 164 in which it is compressed and liquefied. While therefrigerant is compressed and liquefied, a large quantity of heat isgenerated. The machine room 160 containing the compressor 162 and thecondenser 164 is disposed at an upper part of the refrigerator body 110.Therefore, it is possible to more easily discharge the heat generatedfrom various elements arranged in the machine room 160.

Further, the refrigerator body 110 is installed indoors, for example,installed adjacent to other pieces of furniture in the kitchen or livingroom. The refrigerator body 110 may be designed to have variousdimensions corresponding to the height of other pieces of furniture inthe kitchen or living room. Therefore, it is possible to arrange the topsurface of the refrigerator body 110 to be at the same level as the topsurfaces of other pieces of furniture in the kitchen or living room.Therefore, it is possible to put various things on the top surfaces ofthe refrigerator body 110 and other pieces of furniture arranged closeto each other, so as to improve the efficiency in use of the space.Moreover, it is possible to provide an aesthetic beauty of uniformity byinstalling the refrigerator body 110.

In the illustrated embodiment, a locking means including a lockingprotuberance and a locking groove prevents the door from unintentionallyrotating to close an opened storage space. However, according to otherembodiments of the present invention, an elastic member such as atorsion spring or a coil spring may be used to selectively provide anelastic force in order to rotate the door in both directions in whichthe door opens or closes the storage space according to the angle bywhich the door has been rotated.

A beverage refrigerator according to the present invention as describedabove can yield the effects as follows:

In the beverage refrigerator according to the present invention, anevaporator surrounds the upper and lower sides, both lateral sides, andthe backside of the storage space. Therefore, the storage space can beuniformly cooled, so that it is possible to prevent the beverages storedin the storage space from being cooled too much or too little, therebyachieving more effective cold storage of the beverages.

Further, in the beverage refrigerator according to the presentinvention, the beverages are actually stored in beverage carriages whichare drawn out or pushed into the storage space like drawers. Therefore,the user can put in or take out the beverages after drawing the carriageout of the storage space, so that the user can more easily put in ortake out the beverage.

Also, in the beverage refrigerator according to the present invention, amachine room in which various elements constituting a cooling cycle arelocated is arranged at an upper part of the refrigerator body.Therefore, it is possible to more effectively circulate air between theinside and outside of the machine room and is thus possible to enhancethe efficiency in cooling the elements located in the machine room.

Moreover, because the machine room is located at an upper part of therefrigerator body, the lower part of the storage space has a deeperdepth than the upper part of the storage space. Therefore, it ispossible to store less-frequently used beverages in the lower part ofthe storage space and more-frequently used beverages in the upper partof the storage space, thereby improving the efficiency in utilization ofthe storage space.

In addition, a refrigerator body of the beverage refrigerator accordingto the present invention may be designed to have various dimensionscorresponding to the height of other pieces of furniture in the kitchenor living room. Therefore, it is possible to put various things on thetop surfaces of the refrigerator body and other pieces of furniturearranged close to each other, so as to improve the efficiency in use ofthe space. Moreover, it is possible to provide an aesthetic beauty ofuniformity by installing the refrigerator body at the same height asthat of other pieces of furniture.

Although a preferred embodiment of the present invention has beendescribed for illustrative purposes, those skilled in the art willappreciate that various modifications, additions and substitutions arepossible, without departing from the scope and spirit of the inventionas disclosed in the accompanying claims.

1. A beverage refrigerator comprising: a refrigerator body having apredetermined storage space surrounded by an evaporator; one or morebeverage carriages, each of which is pushed into and drawn out of thestorage space like a drawer, and on each of which beverages are stored;and as many doors as the beverage carriages, each of which has a firstend hingedly assembled with a corresponding beverage carriage and asecond end pivotable about the first end, so as to selectively open andclose the storage space.
 2. The beverage refrigerator as claimed inclaim 1, further comprising an inner case, by which the storage space isformed to have a shape of a hexahedron having an open front side,wherein the evaporator is disposed on a backside of the inner case andsurrounds an upper side, a lower side, both lateral sides, and abackside of the storage space.
 3. The beverage refrigerator as claimedin claim 1, further comprising at least one partition member detachablyassembled on one of the beverage carriages, so as to partition andsupport the beverages stored in the beverage carriage.
 4. The beveragerefrigerator as claimed in claim 3, wherein each of the beveragecarriages is mounted on a corresponding slider which moves forward andbackward along guide rails provided at opposed portions of the lateralsides of the storage space.
 5. The beverage refrigerator as claimed inclaim 4, wherein each of the doors has a lower end hingedly assembledwith a front end of a corresponding slider and an upper end pivotableabout the lower end.
 6. The beverage refrigerator as claimed in claim 5,wherein, when the storage space is completely opened, a rear surface ofthe door and an upper surface of the slider are located on one sameplane.
 7. The beverage refrigerator as claimed in claim 6, furthercomprising at least one elastic member which provides an elastic forceto a corresponding door in order to rotate the door toward a position atwhich the door closes the storage space.
 8. The beverage refrigerator asclaimed in claim 7, wherein the elastic member comprises a torsionspring provided at a rotation shaft which serves a center of rotationfor the door with respect to the slider.
 9. The beverage refrigerator asclaimed in claim 7, wherein the elastic member comprises a coil springhaving opposite ends held by a backside of the door and one side of theslider.
 10. The beverage refrigerator as claimed in claim 7, furthercomprising a locking means for preventing the door from beingunintentionally rotated by an elastic force of the elastic member toclose the storage space after the storage space is completely opened.11. The beverage refrigerator as claimed in claim 10, wherein thelocking means comprises a locking protuberance and a locking grooveformed at corresponding portions of the slider and the door,respectively.
 12. The beverage refrigerator as claimed in claim 7,wherein the elastic member provides elastic force to the door in bothdirections based on a middle position between a position at which thedoor completely closes the storage space and a position at which thedoor completely opens the storage space.
 13. The beverage refrigeratoras claimed in claim 1, wherein a machine room for housing variouselements constituting a cooling cycle is formed at an upper part of therefrigerator body.
 14. The beverage refrigerator as claimed in claim 1,wherein the refrigerator body is designed to have a height equal to aheight of other pieces of furniture disposed adjacent to therefrigerator body.